Adjustable Supporting Device

ABSTRACT

A supporting device includes a supporting foot, and a clip module for fixing the supporting foot. The clip module includes a base, a push button affixed in a slidable manner to the base, and two sliding blocks affixed in a slidable manner to the base for clipping the supporting foot while the push button moves to a predetermined position relative to the sliding blocks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a supporting device, and moreparticularly, to an adjustable supporting device having a sliding blockfor clipping a supporting foot.

2. Description of the Prior Art

A tilt angle of a conventional electronic product sometimes must beadjusted to satisfy a user's requirements. For example, while using aprojector, the user may desire to adjust the tilt angle of the projectorfor projecting an image of the projector on a predetermined region. Aconventional projector always has a supporting device capable ofadjusting the projector's tilt angle. While adjusting the tilt angle ofthe conventional projector, the supporting foot of the supporting deviceis shifted downward to a predetermined position by the weight of thesupporting foot. Then a clip structure of the supporting device fixesthe supporting foot for fixing the tilt angle of the conventionalprojector.

However, because the supporting foot is shifted downward by its weight,the supporting foot of the conventional projector swings or is jammedwhen it is downward shifted in halfway toward the predeterminedposition. As a result, of the swings or jamming the conventionalprojector, the user of the conventional projector is significantlyinconvenienced. Moreover, when the supporting foot is fixed by the clipstructure, and it is determined that the tilt angle of the projector isincorrect, the user must loosen the supporting foot before readjustingthe tilt angle of the conventional projector. Please note that the termloosen as used in the present disclosure has the same meaning asrelease. This gross readjustment is necessary because the clip structureof the conventional projector does not provide fine-tuning of the tiltangle. Obviously, repeatedly adjusting the tilt angle of theconventional projector is inefficient and time-consuming. Moreover, theclip structure of the conventional projector generates insufficientforce to ensure that the supporting foot is fixed. Specifically, theclip structure clips and fixes the supporting foot by rotating a levelhaving a small contact area with the supporting foot. The supportingfoot may slip (i.e., slide or move) because the small contact area isinsufficient to stably fix the supporting foot. Please note that theterm clip and clipping as used in the present disclosure have the samemeaning as cinch and cinching, respectively.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The claimed invention provides an adjustable supporting device. Theadjustable supporting device comprises a supporting foot and a clipmodule. The clip module is utilized for fixing the supporting foot. Theclip module comprises a base, a push button affixed to the base in aforward-and-backward slidable manner, and a sliding block affixed to thebase in a leftward-and-rightward slidable manner and utilized forclipping the supporting foot while the push button moves to apredetermined position relative to the sliding block.

The claimed invention provides an adjustable supporting device. Theadjustable supporting device comprises a supporting foot, a spring forpushing the supporting foot, a sleeve for positioning the spring and thesupporting foot to move the spring and the supporting foot along anaxial orientation of the sleeve, and a clip module affixed to the sleevefor fixing the supporting foot.

The claimed invention provides a clip module. The clip module comprisesa base, a push button affixed to the base in a forward-and-backwardrotatable manner, and a sliding block affixed to the base in aleftward-and-rightward rotatable manner for clipping an object when thepush button moves to a predetermined position relative to the slidingblock.

These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt becomeobvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiment that isillustrated in the various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an adjustable supporting device of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view diagram of the adjustable supporting deviceshown in FIG. 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view diagram of the clip module shown in FIG. 1without indicating a cover of the clip module.

FIG. 4 is a combinational diagram of the clip module shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart summarizing the operations of the adjustablesupporting device of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Certain terms are used throughout the following description and claimsto refer to particular system components. As one skilled in the art willappreciate, consumer electronic equipment manufacturers may refer to acomponent by different names. This document does not intend todistinguish between components that differ in name but not function. Inthe following discussion and in the claims, the terms “including” and“comprising” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should beinterpreted to mean “including, but not limited to . . . ”.

Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. FIG. 1 is a diagram of an adjustablesupporting device 100 of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an explodedview diagram of the adjustable supporting device 100 shown in FIG. 1 ofthe present invention. The adjustable supporting device 100 of thepresent invention comprises a supporting foot 110, a spring 120 forpushing the supporting foot 110, a sleeve 130 for positioning the spring120 and the supporting foot 110 to move along an axial orientation ofthe sleeve 130, and a clip module 140 affixed to the sleeve 130 andutilized for fixing the supporting foot 110. When the clip module 140loosens, the supporting foot 110 is pushed by the spring 120 to furtherextend outside the adjustable supporting device 100. Moreover, as thesupporting foot 110 further extends outside the sleeve 130, apositioning function of the sleeve 130 prevents the supporting foot 110from swinging. The clip module 140 comprises a base 142, a cover 144, apush button 146, and two sliding blocks 148. The cover 144 is utilizedfor hedging a maximal movement of the supporting foot 110 to prevent thesupporting foot 110 and the adjustable supporting device 100 fromcompletely separating. For example, overextending the supporting foot110 can result in the complete separation of the supporting foot 100from the adjustable supporting device 100. One terminal of the cover 144is affixed to the sleeve 130 while the other terminal of the sleeve 130is affixed to the base 142, therefore, the sleeve 130 is fixed relativeto the base 142. The sliding blocks 148 are utilized for clipping thesupporting foot 110. The push button 146 is utilized for controllingmovements of the sliding blocks 148.

Moreover, the adjustable supporting device 100 further comprises adamper 150 for providing a resistance for the spring 120 to push thesupporting foot 110 slowly. In a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, the damper 150 is an idler, which generates a sealed spaceinside the sleeve 130 and provides a resistance for the spring 120 topush the supporting foot 110 slowly. However, in another embodiment ofthe present invention, the damper 150 may additionally provide aresistance for the spring 120 to push the supporting foot 110 slowly bya friction force or other physical principles. The supporting foot 110has threads 160, and the sliding blocks 148 have threads 170corresponding to the threads 160. Therefore, when the sliding blocks 148clip the supporting foot 110, the sliding blocks 148 do not merely fixthe supporting foot 110 by the threads 160 and 170, but the supportingfoot 110 may also be fine-tuned to a relative position between thesupporting foot 110 and the sliding blocks 148 in a rotatable manner byway of the threads 160 and 170. Consequently, the user may slightlyadjust the tilt angle of the supporting device 100 while the clip module140 fixes the supporting foot 110.

Please refer to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 simultaneously. FIG. 3 is an explodedview diagram of the clip module 140 shown in FIG. 1 without includingthe cover 144 of the clip module 140. FIG. 4 is a combinational diagramof the clip module 140 shown in FIG. 3. The push button 146 of the clipmodule 140 is affixed to the base 142 in a forward-and-backward manneras indicated by the arrow “A” shown in FIG. 3. The sliding blocks 148are affixed to the base 142 in a leftward-and-rightward slidable manneras indicated by the arrows “B” shown in FIG. 3. Each slidable block 148has a protruding structure 310. The push button 146 has a guidingstructure 320 for driving both the sliding blocks 148 to come togetherfor clipping the supporting foot 110 when the push button 146 moves to apredetermined position “C” relative to the sliding blocks 148 as shownin FIG. 4. Moreover, when the button 146 moves from the predeterminedposition “C” in a direction “P” as shown in FIG. 4, the guidingstructure 320 drives both the sliding blocks 148 to move apart from eachother for loosening the supporting foot 110. The clip module 140 furthercomprises a V-shaped spring 330, which is affixed to the base 142. TheV-shaped spring 330 is utilized to push the push button 146 to thepredetermined position “C” relative to the sliding blocks 148. Whenthere is no external force exerted on the push button 146, the pushbutton 146 is pushed by the V-shaped spring 330 to remain at thepredetermined position “C” relative to the sliding blocks 148. The clipmodule 140 further comprises two springs 340 for pushing both thesliding blocks 148 respectively so as to clip the supporting foot 110with a predetermined force, which is determined by the elastic modulusof the springs 340. In other words, by choosing springs 340 of variouselastic moduli, a maximal load of the adjustable supporting device 100can thus be adjusted for applying the adjustable device 100 onelectronic devices having various weights.

In summary, the operations of the adjustable supporting device 100 ofthe present invention may be summarized in the flow chart 500 of FIG. 5.Please refer to FIG. 5, the flow chart 500 comprises the followingsteps:

Step 510: Push the push button 146 to loosen the supporting foot 110;

Step 520: The supporting foot 110 is pushed by the spring 120 to extendoutside;

Step 530: Loosen the push button 146 to fix the supporting foot 110 whenthe supporting foot 110 moves to a predetermined position;

Step 540: Check the position of the supporting foot 110; if the positionof the supporting foot 110 is correct, go to step 560, else, go to step550;

Step 550: Rotate the supporting foot 110 to fine-tune a relativeposition between the supporting foot 110 and the sliding blocks 148, andgo to step 540; and

Step 560: End.

Compared to the prior art, the supporting foot 110 of the adjustablesupporting device 100 of the present invention can be extended withoutswinging or being jammed. The damper 150 of the present inventionprovides a resistance to the spring 120 to push the supporting foot 110slowly, thereby, an extending movement of the supporting foot 110 can bestably controlled. Moreover, the sliding blocks 148 of the clip module140 of the present invention clip the supporting foot 110 with a largercontact area to stably fix the supporting foot 110. The threads 160 and170 on the supporting foot 110 and the sliding blocks 148 are utilizedfor fine-tuning the position of the supporting foot 110 for enhancingthe convenience of using the supporting device 100 of the presentinvention.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerousmodifications and alterations of the device and method may be made whileretaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the abovedisclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and boundsof the appended claims.

1. An adjustable supporting device comprising: a supporting foot; a clipmodule for fixing the supporting foot, the clip module comprising: abase; a push button affixed to the base in a forward-and-backwardslidable manner; and a sliding block affixed to the base in aleftward-and-rightward slidable manner and utilized for clipping thesupporting foot while the push button moves to a predetermined positionrelative to the sliding block.
 2. The adjustable supporting device ofclaim 1 further comprising: a first spring for pushing the supportingfoot; and a sleeve for positioning the first spring and the supportingfoot to move the first spring and the supporting foot along an axialorientation of the sleeve.
 3. The adjustable supporting device of claim2 wherein the clip module further comprising: a cover, one terminal ofthe cover being affixed to the sleeve while another terminal of thecover being affixed to the base and for hedging a maximal movement ofthe supporting foot.
 4. The adjustable supporting device of claim 2further comprising: a damper for providing a resistance to slowly pushthe supporting foot while the supporting foot is pushed by the firstspring .
 5. The adjustable supporting device of claim 4 wherein the clipmodule further comprising: a cover, one terminal of the cover beingaffixed to the sleeve while another terminal of the cover being affixedto the base and utilized for hedging a maximal movement of thesupporting foot; a second spring utilized for pushing the push button toa predetermined position relative to the sliding block; and a thirdspring utilized for pushing the sliding block to clip the supportingfoot with a predetermined force; wherein the supporting foot hasthreads, and the sliding block has corresponding threads; when thesliding block clips the supporting foot, the supporting foot fine-tunesa relative position between the supporting foot and the sliding block ina rotatable manner; and the adjustable supporting device is foradjusting an angle of inclination of a projector.
 6. The adjustablesupporting device of claim 1 wherein the clip module further comprises:a second spring for pushing the push button to the predeterminedposition relative to the sliding block.
 7. The adjustable supportingdevice of claim 1 wherein the clip module further comprises: a thirdspring for pushing the sliding block to clip the supporting foot with apredetermined force.
 8. The adjustable supporting device of claim 1wherein the supporting foot has threads, and the sliding block hascorresponding threads; when the sliding block clips the supporting foot,the supporting foot fine-tunes a relative position between thesupporting foot and the sliding block in a rotatable manner.
 9. Theadjustable supporting device of claim 1 wherein the adjustablesupporting device is utilized for supporting a projector.
 10. Anadjustable supporting device comprising: a supporting foot; a spring forpushing the supporting foot; a sleeve for positioning the spring and thesupporting foot to move the spring and the supporting foot along anaxial orientation of the sleeve; and a clip module affixed to the sleevefor fixing the supporting foot.
 11. The adjustable supporting device ofclaim 10 further comprising: a damper for providing a resistance toslowly push the supporting foot when the spring pushes the supportingfoot.
 12. The adjustable supporting device of claim 10 wherein thesupporting foot has threads, and the clip module has correspondingthreads; when the clip module fixes the supporting foot, the supportingfoot fine-tunes a relative position between the supporting foot and theclip module in a rotatable manner.
 13. The adjustable supporting deviceof claim 10 wherein the adjustable supporting device is for supporting aprojector.
 14. A clip module comprising: a base; a push button affixedto the base in a forward-and-backward slidable manner; and a slidingblock affixed to the base in a leftward-and-rightward slidable mannerfor clipping an object when the push button moves to a predeterminedposition relative to the sliding block.
 15. The clip module of claim 14further comprising: a first spring for pushing the button to thepredetermined position relative to the sliding block.
 16. The clipmodule of claim 14 further comprising: a second spring for pushing thesliding block to clip the object with a predetermined force.